


heavy lies the crown

by fulltimerecord (quiznaaak)



Series: destcember 2019 [27]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Coming of Age, M/M, on being a vanguard, this isnt Explicity cayde/andal but if you ask me it’s pretty obvious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:07:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22013092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiznaaak/pseuds/fulltimerecord
Summary: “hunter vanguard” is an oxymoron
Relationships: Andal Brask & Cayde-6, Andal Brask/Cayde-6
Series: destcember 2019 [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561171
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	heavy lies the crown

andal was the mastermind of the small band of hunters. always had been, always will be. he planned out and orchestrated every one of the ops they went out on, he made sure everybody got a fair amount of loot, he made sure the collateral damage was minimal, and he always,  _ always _ made sure that ever enemy was taken out.

theoretically, he was the perfect guy to be hunter vanguard. he had the skill, obviously, but he also had tactical knowledge that, honestly, wasn’t as common as it should be amongst hunters. most hunters were more like cayde, the “shoot first, ask questions later” types. there weren’t many like andal.

andal was also smart enough to know that backing down from the dare after losing would make every hunter in existence never trust him again.

so to the tower he went, and in the tower he stayed. he sat through the meetings and planned the strikes, and he got the title that marked himself as the best of the hunters. though, many would argue that being hunter vanguard inherently made you a bad hunter, for being willing to become locked up in the tower.

andal didn’t see it that way, though. every time a mission or strike was planned, he was messaging cayde and shiro and telling them where the loot was. he would slip out the tower at night and clear out cosmodromes for fun. the only reason he was able to stay as the hunter vanguard for so long was because he was not allowing himself to get locked up in the tower. osiris and saint probably knew, but they weren’t saying anything about it if they did, and andal was more than okay with that.

being the vanguard for a class that completely went against what being a vanguard meant was stressful enough. they weren’t about to take his solace away from him.

eventually, though, the trips to the cosmodrome became less frequent. he still tipped off cayde and shiro, he needed to make sure they were getting enough glimmer to survive in the wilds, but he slowly became more dedicated to what the vanguard was about. 

he remembers a conversation, well, argument, he had with cayde about it.

“what to you  _ mean  _ you can’t come? and because the vanguard doesn’t want you to? when has that ever stopped you before?” cayde put his hands on the table and pushed himself up from where he had been sitting. “since when did the vanguard take priority over  _ being a hunter _ ?”

“look, cayde. i don’t like me being in the tower all the time either. honestly, i hate it. but somebody has to do it, because there needs to be a hunter vanguard, whether we like it or not,” andal sighed. “if i shirk my responsibilities to run with you, then there will be newly rezzed hunters without someone to go to, and there will be vets with nobody to ask for advice. it sucks, i know, but i’m doing some good up here.”

“it doesn’t have to be you! there’s thousands of hunters in the system, you can replace yourself and get back out here! come up with a challenge for the next dare, start thinking of candidates, just get back out here!” cayde’s voice sounded angry at the surface, but when you know cayde as well as andal does, you could tell he was pleading with him. andal could definitely tell.

“cayde,” andal said gently. he didn’t have anything else to say, anything to defend himself with. all he had was the knowledge that his loss of the freedom that is so highly prized amongst hunters had been for a good cause. 

“andal…” cayde’s voice broke. static lined every word, the way it did when the poor guy was about to cry. “it’s not the same without the mastermind. it’s not the same without you.”

“i know,” andal breathed. “i know.”


End file.
